


Aquarium

by LCNH1



Series: Sinip's AU stories [1]
Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Other, Underwater but not Aquaman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-11 02:38:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17438330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LCNH1/pseuds/LCNH1
Summary: Based on the Merman AU inspired by @sinip759, you can find her illustrations on Twitter. I've included some to help show how much she loves this AU and I had a wonderful time writing for it.Fisherman Finn discovers that two creatures he'd met in his ocean travels aren't safe where he sent them.





	Aquarium

Ro slumped against the very artificial reef supplied to him by the water prison he and Seth now resided. The octotaur and his merman friend remained in this clear water hell for close to six months now. He didn’t like it. His humanoid upper torso huffed slightly as curious eyes watched him, his black tentacles idly gesturing while he lost himself in his thoughts. The tattoo emblazoned on his right arm - a complex story of all his time in the seas and of his myriad family- fascinated them, as did the white tattoo he’d carved into his purplish-black tentacles with the same message. His thick black mane of hair showed the faint flow of the tank’s water, a slight breeze in the underwater cell.

 He listened to them all. The curious children, the men in white coats. The old men used much longer words, but Ro had slowly figured out their language. He kept that to himself; he’d not told Seth, and perhaps he should. Did Seth not realize that when he falls asleep after certain meals, they take him out of the tank and prod at various parts of his body? Ro had the same done to him a few times. One time he woke early. One of the white coat men hasn’t been seen for about a month. He’ll do it again.

 The children gazed up at him in fascination and curiosity. They asked if he had a relative named “Ursula” and would sing a strange song about unfortunate souls. The song reminded him that at one time he was in the vast ocean to go and do as he pleased; now, he and his merman “brother” had this “Tank” as their new home. He and Seth were the unfortunate souls now; these humans came and went at their leisure, but he and Seth could go no further than the confines of this oversized glass bowl.

 He took a shoulder to the glass a few times, but Seth kept stopping him.  He’d broken that once, too; the humans didn’t like it and made him sleep. He woke in another big glass bowl, groggy, sore, and very angry.

 “I don’t understand why you hate them so much,” Seth complained to his ‘Brother’. “They’re not gonna hurt us. They feed us so we don’t have to hunt for food. They haven’t yet, and they’re not gonna start now.”

 “How do you know that?” Ro snarled.  “You can’t base all that on ‘Fin’.”

 Strange that the human’s name was “Fin”. Did “Fin” understand what he was accomplice to? Seth would spend hours talking about him, wishing he could bring him gifts and trinkets.

 “Finn likes us, Ro. He’s taken really good care of us!” Seth swam eagerly around his big brother, dark brown hair fluttering along. “He visits us every day and puts his hand to the glass. He doesn’t just throw things at us like the men in the white coats, or pound on the glass and point like the others.”

 “That’s nice,” Ro disagreed. “Does he know about all the needles and metal boxes that we’ve been hooked up to since we were brought here?”

 “They don’t do that!” The merman protested. He’d only seen the white-coated men  a couple of times and never made the connection. “And Finn wouldn’t want us to get hurt. He wouldn’t allow it.”

 Ro’s expression remained grim, octopus ink oozing from his eyes and mouth. “These humans do not understand us. We’ll never see the oceans again.”

 “Oh don’t be like that!” Seth traced a finger through an ink trail. “Finn may have taken us out of the ocean, maybe he can take us back! I’ll go ask him when he comes by tomorrow!”

 A tattooed tentacle snapped around Seth’s tail and dragged him eye-to-eye. “No. I will ask him.”

 “He’s scared of you, Ro.”

 “As he should be.”

 -----------------------------

 A young Irishman slipped through the main doors of the aquarium, five minutes before closing. The scruffy-haired janitor always let him in.

 Finn had permission from the aquarium to visit their exotic guests shortly before the aquarium closed to the public. It was the highlight of his day; certainly a day on the open sea to feed himself and sell the rest to market paid his bills, but this daily visit made it worth slogging through the heavy lifting. He jogged happily to the largest tank, eager to see Seth.

 The merman awaited eagerly, gracefully swimming close to the  glass of the tank only to speed up a little as his favorite human approached.

 

“Hi,” Finn smiled, giving a shy wave before placing his hand on the glass. Seth smiled just as brightly and put his hand in the same place, and they gazed to each other for a few moments. Finn knew that the merman didn’t understand the words; but the expressions of joy and comfort in each other’s company was more than enough. The merman’s deep brown eyes fascinated Finn; eyes filled with stories, adventure, and some deep-rooted…. Longing?

 Seth returned the gaze, finding comfort and warmth in the sea-blue eyes of the fisherman. He didn’t need the words, he just _knew._ He knew this human was his friend, just through the exchange of expressions he could feel that to the tip of his merman tail. As though hearts beat together. The mutual kindness unhindered by the glass barrier.

 Ro, on the other hand, tolerated Finn more than engaged. He’d watch intently when Finn talked to Seth, likely analyzing Finn’s body language. Finn couldn’t tell if Ro was jealous of them or just perpetually angry. He’d seen Ro lash out at certain people; the color white irritated him for some reason, and when Finn showed up in a white jacket Ro lunged for him, slamming into the thick glass with such force the entire tank trembled. The scientists who cared for these two actually left the lab to see what caused the commotion and Ro launched up after them, sending them scattering.

 Finn heard someone approach, but chose not to break eye contact. He didn’t want to worry Seth, who likely couldn’t hear their conversation anyway.

 Two scientists walked past, so deep into their folders and tablets they didn’t even notice their subjects had a visitor.

“....the ink appears to also be in its bloodstream,” the taller of the two scientists showed his associate something on his tablet.  “that might explain why it can’t change color.”

 “That’s a strange adaptation, Dr. Corbin. Why would it not want to change color to help camoflauge itself?” The associate scrolled through some of the images.

 Dr. Corbin  frowned. “Judging from what we know of its strength, Dr. Angle,  maybe it doesn’t need to. Dr. Strowman is still in the hospital.”

 “It’s really intelligent. It can tell us apart. The merman doesn’t seem all that fazed around us.”

 “We need to sedate them both for more testing. I need more tissue from the merman’s tail, and we need to see if ‘Ro’ has regenerative abilities like a typical octopus.” The two continued walking, oblivious to Finn hearing every word.

 The Irishman’s hand tensed against the glass. Seth’s confused expression suddenly interrupted as tentacles slammed into the side of the tank, inches from both of them.

 “Ro!” Seth yelped. The octotaur withered them both with his inky glare, blue-silver eyes smoldering in anger. The merman backed away slowly, glancing between Ro and Finn.

 Ro then focused directly on Finn, looming over him like a black ghost. The ink drizzling from his eyes and mouth only added to the terror. What happened next scared Finn the most. Ro spoke.

 “They’re going to force us to sleep again,” his voice deep as the seas he came from, thrumming like a whale song. “They’re going to keep doing this. YOU brought us here.” Finn’s jaw dropped. “Those white coat men do things to us while we sleep. That’s why this bowl is damaged and one of theirs is missing. They said they will cut Seth’s tail.” His right fist slammed against the tank. “This is NOT home.”

 Finn’s heart sank. The aquarium didn’t tell him they would be guinea pigs or experimented on. He should have known better. “I’m… I’m sor-”

 Ro’s fist slammed again, closer to Finn’s face. “Seth doesn’t get it. I do. There will be less scientists if they keep doing this.” Two thick, muscular tentacles snaked up the glass. “And maybe there’ll be less one fisherman.”

 Finn backed away from the tank. “No! I can fix this! I can help you. I need one more day.”

 “Return at sunrise,” Ro coldly ordered. “And if you lie like they do, you will go to the hospital as well.”

 ------------------------------

 The next day was a Sunday, when no scientists would be in the building. Ro needed proof that Finn would help them. If the white coat men weren’t here, they couldn’t make either of them sleep.

 Finn jogged up to the tank with purpose. He’d spent the entire evening since leaving the aquarium to prepare what he needed. He had some paperwork with him, along with a small velvet bag he purchased to keep some items Seth gave him. He guessed the items within might hold a key to the next part of his plan; thus the backpack. It was cold and rainy outside, perfect weather for his plan.

 Seth spotted him first, approaching the glass with caution. His good friend never carried other things with him. Ro cautiously approached, arms folded and tentacles curling with impatience. Finn smiled nervously at both of them as he took out one piece of paper and pressed it against the glass. He’d drawn it himself; a pic of Seth and Ro as humans walking with Finn. Seth beamed and swam over to Ro.

 "He wants us to come with him! He still had the pearls we used to keep him from drowning! We can go live with the humans!”

 “‘We’?” Ro mumbled.

 “Please come with me!”

 “I don’t want you to go. But we can’t stay here with the white coat men.”

 “Finn will keep us safe!” Seth promised.

 “He’s a human, just like the white coat men and the strangers who point at us. I don’t trust them.” He looked to Finn. “You want us to live out there?”

 Seth blinked. “You didn’t tell me you spoke their language!”

 “You didn’t need to know.”

 Finn boggled that Ro had kept this from his only friend. “Why? Why wouldn’t you tell him??” He shouted at the ink-seeping creature. Ro didn’t flinch.

 “Then I would have to tell him what the white coat men did.”

 “I won’t do what those men are doing to you,” Finn assured Ro. He held up another picture. “You can work with me on my fishing boat. If you don’t want to stay above water, you can go home. Just let me have Seth.”

 Ro stared at the picture for a long, long time. It was a good drawing, showing Seth wearing their clothes and having long, lean legs, embracing Finn and watching a sunset. Ro himself would be taller than both of them, and his arm tattoo would remain with him. He stood next to them like a dark-skinned bodyguard, blue eyes stern and distant. 

 “See? SEE~!?” Seth cheered. “He’ll take care of us! We’ll be fine! I can’t wait to wear clothes and walk!”

 Finn flashed his own grin at the dour octotaur. “It would make both of us very, very happy.”

 

“...Do you love him?” Ro hoped that was the correct word. He’d heard the pointing humans say it to each other and gaze into each other’s eyes much like Seth and Finn would. The pointing humans rarely did it as long as his friend and the fisherman would, but the expressions were too similar to not be the same thing.

 “I…” Finn blushed a little. “I do. He’s handsome and has a bright spirit. And I know he will still be family to you even if he and I are together.” Finn’s sea-blue eyes reflected the same expression Seth had now, anticipation and hope that the stubborn octotaur would grant their fondest wish.

 “Fine,” Ro relented. He nodded to Seth. “We’re going.”

 “I’m going first!! I’ll see you on the other side, Ro!” Seth eagerly launched for the surface. Ro hadn’t moved. Finn tensed.

 “I will be along,” Ro said as he turned away. “I need to bring something with me. You have clothes for us?”

 “Hopefully they’ll fit, and we’ll get better ones today. I promise.”

 Ro grunted and swam back to the reef, pointing Finn to a side door that would lead him to the top of the tank to retrieve Seth.

 As Finn hurried upstairs, Ro reached in a small pocket within the reef, removing a sharpened piece of white coral that he’d carved against the reef when Seth was forced to sleep by the white coat men.

  _Finn is still a human,_ Ro reminded himself. _And I will protect my brother no matter what._

**Author's Note:**

> Another big thank you to @sinip759 for the images!


End file.
